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mentioned in Scripture under its pro

per name.

It does not appear, that the writers of Greece and Rome were acquainted with any animal which can be considered as synonimous with the Great Sea Serpent. An amphibious animal of great size, which lived chiefly in fresh water, is mentioned by several of these authors. Of this kind was that described by Livy in his first book of the Punic war, which struck such terror into the army of Regulus, on the banks of the river Bagrada. The same animal is mentioned both by Pliny and Valerius Maximus.* It was 120 feet in length, killed several men, and was found to be almost invulnerable. A singular story is also told by Diodorus Siculus, lib. 3d, of an Egyptian serpent, sixty feet long, which was brought alive to Alexandria, as a present to Ptolemy the II. This creature was observed to leave the water every day to prey upon the cattle of the neighbouring farmers. Many unsuccessful attacks were made upon it, during which several men lost their lives, but at last it was surprised in a narrow defile by means of a net made of strong ropes, and carried alive to Ptolemy's court.

In modern times the Sea Serpent appears to occur chiefly in the northern ocean. It is described at considerable length, though with some circumstances of exaggeration, by Eric Pontoppidan, to whose work we have already had occasion so frequently to refer. He observes, that in all his inquiries concerning it, he has hardly spoken to one intelligent person of the Manor of Nordland, who did not give the strongest assurances of its exist ence; and many of the northern traders think it is as ridiculous to be questioned regarding the Great Serpent, as if they were asked, whether there be such fish as Cod or Eel. Along the Norwegian coast it is known by the names of Soe Ormen and Aaale Tust. The following letter from the Hon. Captain Lawrence de Ferry to Reutz of Bergen, serves to illustrate the history of this animal.

"The latter end of August, in the year 1746, as I was on a voyage, in my return from Trundheim, in a very calm and hot day, having a mind to put in to Molde, it happened that when we were arrived with

* Hist. Nat. lib. viii. cap. xiv. Val. Max. lib. i. cap. ult.

my vessel within six English miles of the aforesaid Molde, being at a place called Jule-Næss, as I was reading in a book, I heard a kind of murmuring voice from amongst the men at the oars, who were eight in number, and observed that the man at the helm kept off from the land. Upon this I inquired what was the matter, and was informed that there was a Sea Snake before us. I then ordered the man at the helm to keep to the land again, and to come up with this creature, of which I had heard so many stories. Though the fellows were under obey my orders. In the mean time, this some apprehension, they were obliged to Sea-Snake passed by us, and we were obliged to tack the vessel about to get nearer to it. As the snake swam faster than we could row, I took my gun, that was ready charged, and fired at it; on this he immediately plunged under the water. We rowed to the place where it sunk down, which and lay upon our oars, thinking it would in the calm might easily be observed, did not. come up again to the surface; however it the water appeared thick and red; perhaps When the Snake plunged down, some of the shot might wound it, the distance being very little. The head of this Snake, which it held more than two feet above the surface of the water, resembled that of a horse. It was of a grayish colour, large. It had black eyes, and a long white and the mouth was quite black and very mane that hung down from the neck to the surface of the water. Besides the head and neck, we saw seven or eight folds or coils of this Snake, which were very thick, and as far as we could guess, there was about a fathom distance between each fold. I re

lated this affair in a certain company where there was a person of distinction present, him an authentic detail of all that happenwho desired that I would communicate to ed; and for this reason, two of my sailors, who were present at the same time and place when I saw this monster, namely Nicholas Pederson Kopper, and Nicholas Nicholson Anglewigen, shall appear in court to declare on oath the truth of every particular herein set forth; and I desire descriptions. I remain, sir, your obliged the favour of an attested copy of the said servant, (Signed) L. DE FERRY. Bergen, 21st February 1751.

Its exact dimensions do not seem to

be accurately known. According to some accounts it attains the enormous

length of 100 fathoms, or 600 English feet, but such a measurement, in all probability, much exceeds the truth. It is frequently mentioned by the whose poetical description of it, comnorthern poets, particularly Peter Dass, mencing with

"Om Soe-ormen veed jeg ey nogen Beskeed," is well known.

In the curious description of Norway, by Jonas Ramus, there is the following passage:

"Anno 1687, a large Sea-Snake was seen by many people in Dramsfiorden; and, at one time, by eleven persons together. It was in very calm weather; and so soon as the sun appeared, and the wind blew a little, it shot away just like a coiled cable that is suddenly thrown out by the sailors; and they observed that it was some time in stretching out its many folds. Olaus Magnus, in his Hist. Sept. lib. xxi. c. 24, speaks of a Norwegian Snake 80 feet long, but not thicker than a child's arm. 'Est in littori

bus Norwegicis vermis glauci coloris, longitudine xl cubitorum, et amplius vix spissitudinem infantis brachii habens.""

With regard to this last mentioned animal, we are entirely of Pontoppidan's opinion, that there must have been some mistake in the measurement, as the thickness of a child's arm is quite disproportioned to such a length. The existence of the animal itself we can scarcely doubt, as Olaus affirms, "Hunc vermem sæpius vidi, ab ejus tactu, nautarum informatione, abstinens." There is, in all probability, some typographical error.

It appears, from several passages in the works of the Scandinavian writers, that there is a current belief in the existence of a great serpent of an amphibious nature, which, like that mentioned by the ancient historians, does not confine its depredations to the water. Whether this animal should be considered as synonimous with the great Sea Serpent, which, according to some accounts recently received from America, is also reported to have been observed on shore, or otherwise, it is not at present easy to determine. According to Pontoppidan, it is said, by the people who inhabit the Norwegian coast, that the latter species is not generated in the sea, but on the land; and that when they become so large that they cannot easily move upon the ground, they go into the sea and attain their full growth. In favour of this tradition, we may quote the following passage from the Mundus Mirabilis of Happelius:

“Nicolaus Gramius, minister at Londen in Norway, gives, 16th Jan. anno 1656, of such a serpent, the following account, from the report of Gulbrandi Hougsrud and Olaus Anderson, that they had seen, in the last autumnal inundation, a large water serpent, or worm, in the Spæriler Sea; and it is believed that it had been seen before in Mios, and had been hitherto hid in the river

Bang. As soon as it reached the shore of this river, it proceeded, on the dry land, to the Spæriler Sea; it appeared like a mighty mast, and whatever stood in its way was thrown down-even the very trees and huts; the people were terrified with its hissing and frightful roaring; and almost all the fish, in the aforesaid sea, were devoured or drove away by it. The inhabitants of Odale

At

were so terrified at this monster, that none would venture to go to the sea to follow would any body walk along the shore. their customary fishing and wood-trade, nor the end of the autumn, before the waters were frozen, this monster was seen at a disevery body; its head was as big as an hogstance, and, by its enormous size, surprised head, and the thickness of its body, as far as the same appeared above water, was like a tun; the length of the whole body was vast; it reached, as far as the spectators could judge, the length of three Norway dannen-trees, and rather exceeded."

An amphibious serpent, equally terrific, is described by Olaus Magnus in his xxvii. chapter:

"Those that visit the coasts of Norway tell us of a very strange phenomenon, namely, that there is in these seas a snake 200 feet long, and 20 feet round, which lives in the hollows of the rocks, and under the

cliffs, about Bergen, and goes out in the and swine; or else it goes to the sea, and moonlight nights to devour calves, sheep, catches star-fish, crabs, &c. It has a mane two feet long; it is covered with scales, and has fiery eyes; it disturbs ships, and raises itself up like a mast, and sometimes snaps some of the men from the deck."

We consider it extremely improbable, that so great a change in the habits of any animal should take place, as that presumed, by the alleged fact of the Great Snake dwelling in the deep only, after having attained a considerable degree of maturity. Such changes never take place without corresponding alterations in the most important organs and functions of the animal itself, and alterations of that nature have never been observed to occur in any of the snake tribe, or among cetaceous animals. It is scarcely more probable, that it should be even an occasional inhabitant of the land, although it is very likely that it possesses the power of living for a long period of time in moist or marshy ground, or even among rocks, if accidentally deserted by the waters. Such accounts must have originated in the circumstance of some great snake having been carried on shore by unusually high tides, or forced, by the inundation of a river, into the wet grounds in its

vicinity. We shall return to the SeaSerpent, more properly so called.

The animal described by Paul Egede, as seen by him during his second voyage to Greenland, must have been of this kind.

66

July 6th, a most hideous sea-monster was seen, which reared itself so high above the water, that its head overtopped our mainsail. It had a long pointed nose, out of which it spouted like a whale. Instead of fins, it had great broad flaps like wings; its body seemed to be grown over with shell work, and its skin very rugged and uneven; it was shaped like a serpent behind, and when it dived into the water again, it plunged itself backwards, and raised its tail above the water a whole ship-length from its body."

The above account is the only one with which we are acquainted, in which the Sea-Snake is said to spout water like the whale. It is indeed singular, that that character has not been more frequently remarked; and this omission induces us to suppose it not improbable, that two kinds of animals exist, bearing a general resemblance to each other, to both of which the name of Sea-Snake has been applied. The Orkney animal, afterwards mentioned, appears, from the testimony of different witnesses, to have been provided with air-holes and a lengthened neck, and, consequently, with lungs; from which it follows, that it must frequently have had occasion to spout out water after the manner of the more common cetaceous animals. The Great Serpent, recently seen off the American coast, was sometimes visible, about the same place, for an entire day, but was not observed to exert any such faculty. If that character, as mentioned in the Greenland relation, was not the result of some deception, it may be concluded, that the animal described by Egede differed considerably from those usually observed in the North Sca, which have never been described as poss ssed of such a power, although various accounts agree in stating, that when they approach, they cause a great agitation in the water, and sometimes make it run like the current at a mill. It has been said to shed its skin annually, like the Land-Snake; and at Kopperwiig, in Norway, it was affirmed, that a cover for a table was made

* Petrus Undalinus makes mention of huge water snakes being occasionally observed in some of the Norwegian Lakes. Cap. vii. p. 36.

of one of these skins. This report excited the curiosity of Pontoppidan, who was anxious to know the truth, and accordingly wrote for proper information; but he could learn nothing of it. He was, however, informed, that in 1720, a Sea-Snake had lain for some time in a creek near that place; that it came there at high water, through a narrow channel about seven or eight feet broad, but went away, after lying there a whole week, and left behind it a skin, which the informer, whose name was Korlack Korlacksen, declared he saw and handled. It lay with one end under water in the creek, and how long it was could not be determined. The creek, within the channel, was several fathoms deep, and the skin lay stretched out a great way; but one end having been floated on shore by the tide, lay there for a long time, and was seen This skin was of a soft and slimy consistence, as the body by every one. of the animal itself is also said to be, according to some accounts. Thus a party of Norwegian sailors once caught of their vessel, where it lay till they were a young one, and laid it upon the deck obliged to throw it overboard, owing to the insupportable fætor which ema

nated from a soft and viscid slime, to

which its body was partly dissolved.*

All the accounts which we have read wind is particularly hateful to this agree in this, that the slightest gust of animal, and immediately causes it to sink to the bottom of the sea.

This

"We have the same account from Pere

Labat, of a small Sea-Serpent about four feet long, and as thick as a man's arm. His words are, Nous l'attachames au mât après l'avoir assommé pour voir quelle figure il auroit le lendemain. Nous con

numes combien nôtre bonheur avoit été grand, de n'avoir point touché a ce poisson, qui sans doute nous auroit tous empoisonnez. Car nous trouvames le matin qu'il s'étoit entierement dissous en une cau ver

datre et puante, qui avoit coulé sur le pont, sans qu'il restat presque autre chose, que la peau et la reste, quoi qu'il nous eut paru le soir fort ferme et fort bon. Nous conclumes, ou que ce poisson étoit empoisonné par accident, ou que de sa nature ce n'étoit qu'un composé de venin. Je crois que c'étoit quelque vipere marin. J'en ay parlé à plusieurs pescheurs et autres gens de mer, sans avoir jamais pu étre bien eclairci de ce que je voulois sçavoir touchant ce poisson.' Nouveaux Voyages aux Isles Françoises de l'Amerique, tom. 5, cap. xiv. p. 335." Pontopp. vol. 2, p. 201.

probably arises from the inconvenience resulting from the waves at the surface, and the strong power which a swell would exert upon a body of such great length and comparative slenderness. According to Pontoppidan, a great Sea-Snake was seen at Amunds Vaagen, in Nordfiord, a few years before he wrote. It came in between the rocks, probably at high water, and died there, and its carcase tainted the neighbouring air for a long time. A similar animal was seen in the island of Karmen, where it perished; and several more are recorded as having occurred in other places. The SeaSnake, it is said, possesses a very quick scent, and has been observed to fly from the smell of castor. On this account, the Norwegian fishermen, during the warm summer months, when it is most likely to shew itself, are frequently provided with this substance when they go to sea; and when they apprehend the near approach of one of these monsters, they sprinkle a Little on all sides overboard. The same device is said by Debes to be resorted to by the boatmen around the Feroe Isles, as a protection against the Trold-Whale, a mischievous species, which likewise dreads the shavings of juniper-wood. Many curious anecdotes, concerning the power of castor, may be found in the writings of Thomas Bartholinus.

The Bishop of Bergen mentions, that he has been informed by the northern traders, that the sea-snake sometimes throws itself across a boat in such a manner as to sink it by its weight. One person, in particular, informed him, that he has been near enough to some of these animals to feel their smooth skin; and he added, that sometimes they will raise up their frightful heads, and snap a man out of a boat, without hurting the rest; "but this," says the bishop, "I will not affirin for a truth, because it is not certain that they are a fish of prey." Perhaps this animal may be alluded to by the prophet Amos: "And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpat, and he shall bite them."-Chap. ix. v. 3. Its motion is said to be exceedingly rapid, and is compared by one Norwegian poet to the flight of an

arrow from a bow. When perceived by the fishermen, they generally row away in the direction of the sun, which favours their escape, as the creature cannot perceive them when its head is turned towards that luminary.

"It is said, that they sometimes fling themselves in a wide circle round a boat, so that the men are surrounded on all sides. This snake, I observed before, generally appears on the water in folds or coils; and the fishermen, from a known custom in that case, never row towards the openings, or those places where the body is not seen, but is concealed under the water; if they did, the snake would raise itself up, and overset the boat. On the contrary, they row full against the highest part that is visible, which makes the snake immediately dive; and thus they are released from their fears. This is their method when they cannot avoid them; but when they see one of these creatures at a distance, they row away with all their might (by which they sometimes injure their health) towards the shore, or into a creek where it cannot follow them.”

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When they are overtaken, without being provided with any castor, their only resource is to throw a scuttle or any light thing at it, which frequently has the effect of making it dive and take another course.

We come now to the more modern instances of the occurrence of this singular animal. The following letter from the Rev. Mr Maclean of Small Isles to the Secretary of the Wernerian Natural History Society, will be deemed sufficient to dispel the doubts of those who feel less inclined than ourselves, to place some degree of confidence in the accounts of the earlier writers.

"Eigg Island, 24th April 1809. "SIR,-Your letter of the 1st instant I received, and would have written in answer thereto sooner, had I not thought it desirable to examine others relative to the ani

mal of which you wish me to give a parti

cular account.

"According to my best recollection, I saw it in June 1808, not on the coast of Eigg, but on that of Coll. Rowing along that coast, I observed, at about the distance of half a mile, an object to windward, which gradually excited astonishment. At first view, it appeared like a small rock. Knowing there was no rock in that situation, I fixed my eyes on it close. Then I saw it elevated considerably above the level of the sea, and, after a slow movement, distinctly perceived one of its eyes. Alarmed at the unusual appearance and magnitude of the animal, I steered so as to be at no great

Nat. Hist. of Norway, vol. ii, p. 203.

distance from the shore. When nearly in a line betwixt it and the shore, the monster, directing its head (which still continued above water) towards us, plunged violently

under water. Certain that he was in chace of us, we plied hard to get ashore. Just as we leaped out on a rock, taking a station as high as we conveniently could, we saw it coming rapidly under water towards the stern of our boat. When within a few yards of the boat, finding the water shallow, it raised its monstrous head above water, and, by a winding course, got, with apparent difficulty, clear of the creek where our boat lay, and where the monster seemed in danger of being imbayed. It continued to move off, with its head above water, and with the wind, for about half a mile, before we lost sight of it. Its head was rather broad, of a form somewhat oval. Its neck somewhat smaller. Its shoulders, if I can so term them, considerably broader, and thence it tapered towards the tail, which last it kept pretty low in the water, so that a view of it could not be taken so distinctly as I wished. It had no fin that I could perceive, and seemed to me to move progressively by undulation up and down. Its length I believed to be from 70 to 80 feet. When nearest to me, it did not raise its head wholly above water, so that the neck being under water, I could perceive no shining filaments thereon, if it had any. Its progressive motion under water I took to be rapid, from the shortness of the time it took to come up to the boat. When the head was above water, its motion was not near so quick; and when the head was most elevated, it appeared evidently to take a view of distant objects.

"About the time I saw it, it was seen about the island of Canna. The crews of thirteen fishing-boats, I am told, were so

much terrified at its appearance, that they in a body fled from it to the nearest creek for safety. On the passage from Rum to Canna, the crew of one boat saw it coming towards them with the wind, and its head high above water. One of the crew pronounced its head as large as a little boat, and each of its eyes as large as a plate. The men were much terrified, but the monster offered them no molestation. From those

who saw it, I could get no interesting parti

culars additional to those above mentioned. I remain, Sir, &c.

(Signed) DONALD MACLEAN."

A few months after the appearance of this animal off the Island of Coll, the dead body of a monstrous Sea-Snake was found driven on shore on Stronsa, one of the Orkney Isles. It measured fifty-five feet in length, and about ten feet in circumference, and was furnished with a kind of mane or ridge of bristles, which extended from the shoulder to within two feet and a half

of the tail. These bristles, while moist, were luminous in the dark; and it was provided with fins or swimming paws, which measured four feet and a half in length, and in shape resembled the wing of a goose without feathers.* This monster was seen and examined by many individuals, who all agree in regard to its great size and general appearance. It remained entire for some time, but separated before any correct drawing or detailed description could be obtained.†

We shall conclude this investigation by presenting our readers with an account of the latest, and one of the most satisfactory instances of the appearance of the Great Sea Serpent, off the American coast. This we are fortunately enabled to do, by means of a very ju dicious report published by a committee appointed by the Linnean Society of New England, to collect all the evidence which could be obtained on the subject.

In the month of August 1817, it was generally reported, that a very singular animal, of prodigious size, had been frequently seen in the harbour of Gloucester, Cape Ann, about thirty miles from Boston. In general appearance it resembled a serpent, and was said to move with astonishing rapidity. It was visible only in calm and bright weather, and floated on the surface of the water like a number of buoys or Such was the general description given casks following each other in a line. of this animal, betwixt which, and the accounts by the Norwegians, our readers will not fail to observe a striking coincidence.

In the report to which we have referred, the affidavits of a great many people of unblemished character are collected concerning it, which leaves no room to apprehend any thing like deceit. These statements, as might

In this character it agrees with the Great Sea Snake seen by Egede the missionary.

+ The accounts of this singular creature are contained in the affidavits made before the Justices of the Peace for the county, by men of character and respectability. For several interesting particulars concerning its anatomical structure, we refer the reader to Dr Barclay's paper on the subject, published in the first volume of the Wernerian

Society's Memoirs. Sir Everard Home seemed to consider the Orkney animal as a Squalus maximus, but this opinion is generally regarded as erroneous.

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